Welcome
Friends Electric is a Growth Marketing & AI Marketing Consultancy
Welcome to Friends Electric, the personal marketing consultancy of Chris McLellan. Based in Canada, I'm a Certified Chartered Marketer with 15+ years' experience driving growth at cutting-edge B2B and B2C tech companies in North America, UK, and international markets.
I work with startups, scale-ups, and established companies on strategic growth initiatives, AI marketing, content marketing, product marketing, and integrated campaigns.
Latest posts
How I work
Data-Centric
I capture marketing entities as structured, linked data tables rather than fragmented docs and decks.
Productive
I combine structured data with AI to save time, reduce costs, and liberate marketers from low-value tasks.
Collaborative
I thrive on collaboration and take a cross-functional approach to improving customer experiences and driving revenue growth.
Transparent
I bring fresh ideas but make sure clients leave with practical tools, skills, and approaches their teams can keep using to grow.
Credentials & Roles
Certified Chartered Marketer
Canadian Marketing Association
Certified Chartered Marketer (CM), the national designation for Canadian marketing professionals, recognizing advanced expertise, innovation, and leadership in a rapidly evolving field.
Technical Committee Lead
Digital Governance Council
Technical Committee Lead and co-author of the Data Collaboration Framework, a pioneering Canadian and international standard that supports responsible and productive interactions between human teams and AI systems.
AI Committee Member
Canadian Marketing Association
AI Committee member at the Canadian Marketing Association, helping guide the ethical and strategic use of AI in marketing through policy, resources, and industry education. I bring a focus on practical use cases that drive business impact.
Founder / Volunteer Producer
Ask AI Podcast
Founder of Ask AI, a nonprofit launched in 2017 to showcase AI innovation and help professionals navigate a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence through a podcast, demos, open resources, and newsletter.
AI-enabled Marketing Services
Growth Marketing
Purpose-built AI-powered approach to capture insights from stakeholders and customers, enabling rapid identification, evaluation, and testing of growth initiatives.
Product Marketing
Comprehensive Product Playbooks built as structured data, making it easy for AI to assist in generating GTM plans, campaigns, pricing, and sales collateral.
Content Marketing
High-impact content that educates, informs, and entertains to build brand equity, showcase products, boost traffic, and fuel every stage of the customer journey.
Integrated Campaigns
Multi-channel campaigns delivered with effective project management, tracking, and reporting.
Marketing Toolkit
I choose marketing tools for their simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and collaboration capabilities. I'm also happy to work within existing marketing stacks.
Generative AI
I use Gen AI to build tools like Growth Marketing Assistants and what I call 'taskbots' for single-purpose deliverables.
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Graphic Design
I cannot remember life before Canva. I use it all the time for graphic design, social media content, and sales collateral.
Knowledge Bases
I use Google Sheets and Airtable to build AI-friendly data models that power unlimited AI marketing outcomes.
Email/CRM
I'm experienced in email sequences and lead nurturing in HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Apollo.
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Video Production
I am a huge fan of Descript, an app that pioneered text-to-video editing. Also great for podcast production.
Web Design
I build basic sites (like this one) with Wix and collaborate with UX experts on design apps like Figma.
Featured clients
CEO, VaragSale
“Chris connects big picture strategy with hands-on execution in a data driven environment."
[I headed the North American launch marketing team at VaragSale, the secondhand marketplace backed by Sequoia and Accel]
"Chris is a forward thinker who builds genuine relationships and creates opportunities for growth."
[I delivered the Toronto/GTA marketing launch of Lyft, the major rideshare operator and Uber rival, delivering passenger and driver signups and key growth partnerships]
CEO, Cinchy
“Chris brings a whatever it takes mindset, adapting quickly and driving success through any challenge.”
[I was founding marketer and product marketing manager at Cinchy, the pioneering enterprise Data Collaboration Platform]